A 40-strong inspection team, which spent four days in the city’s hospitals in January this year, has published a 190 page report into its findings.

It concludes that improvement needs to be made to issues of safety and responsiveness within the trust but says that effectiveness, level of caring and leadership are all good.

The Chief Inspector of Hospitals for the CQC, Professor Sir Mike Richards, said: “We found that the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust was providing services that were safe, effective, responsive, caring and well-led.

“Staff we spoke to were positive, and patients we spoke to were positive about the care that they had received at the trust.”

A spokesman for the trust said: “The report found that services at Leicester’s Hospitals were safe but improvements need to be made, that the care provided was effective and overwhelmingly staff were caring.

“Trust staff at all levels are aware of the issues in responding to the needs of the community.

“Staff morale was improving and most staff felt able to raise concerns and were confident that these would be listened to.”

The Trust was rated as “good” in three out of five key areas, and said to “require improvement” in two.

Trust chief executive John Adler said: “I think this is an absolutely fair reflection of where we are on our journey to becoming a truly outstanding Trust.

“The inspectors found that services were safe, effective and most encouragingly that staff were ‘overwhelmingly caring’ and willing to ‘go the extra mile’ for our patients.

“I know that being caring ought to be a prerequisite for anybody working in the NHS, but sadly we know that isn’t always the case and as such I want to thank my colleagues on the front line and in support roles for all that they do to make sure that we continue to strive for ‘caring at its best’.”

He said he agreed that the issues highlighted did require improvement.

Chief nurse for the trust, Rachel Overfield said: “It’s hard to summarise a 190 page report but what comes through from the inspectors is that our staff are caring and compassionate, that we need more of them and that our ability to cope with the rising emergency demand is the big issue.”

The trust’s acting chairman Richard Kilner said: “The inspector’s report contains much that our staff can be proud of and plenty of things that we need to improve.

“The process of inspection is incredibly thorough and slightly daunting but ultimately it is of great benefit to the Trust.”